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The Minds of Almantha

Almantha is the last bastion of magic in the dying world of Therinos.

Geography

Unusually round for a continent of its size, it is home to four large kingdom-esque nations and the city state of Revien, at its center. To the north there is a mountain range, but concealed within those craggy peaks is a peaceful meadow, home to the entrance to Saalarann. This mountain range extends in a southeasterly direction, ending in a peninsula. The range abruptly stops at the edge of the peninsula, in a large mountain which houses the city of Obsidia. A large forest dominates the southern region of Almantha, and marks the territory of Dekonio. A large lagoon similarly dominates the western reaches, although the territory of Aquacor reaches nearly to the gates of Revien.

Major Cities

Aquacor:

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City of water. The entire city is made of it, held in place by high-power Control Water spells. The city is also made of ice and glass, as the high saturation of magic allows the city to change water to ice to glass and back. It is renowned for its heavy emphasis on the tourist trade, as well as for its university of magical theory and the many powerful casters that count among its alumni. It boasts a sizable population of humans and aventi, sleek, humanoid creatures with fins, naturally colored black and white.

Dekonio

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City of earth. A city in a giant tree. This tree can move its existing branches on its own whims (usually during the night or in districts without anyone around to fall down), with enough control to weave its smaller branches into rope bridges. The gems collect sunlight during the day and transfer it to literal sunflowers, providing light to the city’s inhabitants. 90% of Dekonio's population is elven, but these elves are different from the pointy-eared humans one would find elsewhere on Therinos. Their close affinity for and physical proximity to a nexus of earth magic turned them into a plant race, of physically green skin, barklike clothing, and the ability to grow a hard shell for protection while sleeping. The remaining 10% are humans and any being without the desire or aptitude for the hard theory taught at the University of Aquacor, studying sigils and more practical uses of magic.

Obsidia

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City of fire. One of the most normal of the cities in the nation, despite its location (inside a dormant volcano) and the mechanical constructs of various shapes that abound. Central tower is topped with a perfectly spherical ruby that seems to glitter as though being whirled at great speeds. Constructs are built for their functions, and have trouble “thinking” out of them. Most of them have a human face on what passes for a head, so that their organic overlords can have something to address. Human face is immobile, eyes are whited over. Entire face looks carved out of marble. Most are created by the nomon, a population of dwarf/goblin/gnome hybrids given to the city as part of an alliance with Dekonio, intended as Igors and servants for the city, but many of whom grew into brilliant scientists, engineers, and spellcasters in their own right.

Saalarann

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City of air. When one goes to Saalarann for the first time, they might be confused by the sight of a small domed pagoda in the middle of a rolling plain. This pagoda is but the door to Saalarann, in much the same way that the plain is merely an antechamber. The actual city is above the cloud layer, three concentric rings of buildings floating several hundred miles above the surface of Therinos. It is the nest of the kiria, a race of raptorans, and second only to Aquacor in the human tourist trade.

Revien

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City of balance. Home to Fissura, a religion deifying the powers behind each city, and its capital place of worship, the Noreun. also home to the Revien Freelancer Guard, a mercenary army that is contractually obligated never to march on the city where it was founded. Every full moon, there is also a black market hidden somewhere in the city, and it is considered a rite of passage for Freelancer grunts to sneak off and find it after their recruitment. As for the commanding officers, they turn a blind eye, some even going so far as to say "I do not recommend looking for the Moon Market, nor do I recommend looking in THIS area for it." Revien is unique among cities in that it is located in a canyon, with buildings crawling up the sides like bracket fungus. "Ravine" jokes are naturally frowned upon as being very, very lame puns.

Fissura

The Minds are the power behind the four elemental cities, referred to separately as Aqua, Dekon, Saala, and Obsid. They are the memories and characters of the founders of each city, transformed by an ancient and powerful spell into AI-esque beings.

With power akin to gods and their desire to protect their strongholds from any attack, it is small wonder that the population worships the Minds as gods. When the Minds want something, they ask for it, and it will be given to them - or they will take it themselves.

Magic

Almantha is drenched in magic, a continent of rainforest when all around is desert. As such, many races have magic built within their very beings, and all can cast spells without physical components (as SLAs). However, spellcasting is tied to the four elements, in that there must be water (or at least liquid) nearby in order to cast water-aligned spells.

The Minds have access to epic-level amounts of power, and have used it in long-lasting enchantments that keep themselves and their peoples safe. However, the enchantments have been slowly failing, as of late, due to a combination of age, neglect, and the machinations of an ancient enemy of the founders, a pioneer in the field of necromancy who has turned himself into a lich in order to continue to hound his enemies.

Schools of Magic

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Of the schools of magic, 3 of them are known to exist under all four elements. These three are: Conjuration, Restoration, and Destruction. The effects of the spells under these schools vary with the element: for example, a conjurer of air can teleport himself or his party, while a conjurer of fire can cast illusions to distract an enemy, while a conjurer of water can confuse or dominate. Restoration spells are fairly constant across all elements (mostly healing, far too useful to restrict to fewer than all the elements), while destruction spells take circumstance bonuses in the presence of that element.

Hybrid spells

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However, there are some spell schools which do not fall under the four elements - Necromancy spells, for example, require both the services of an earth caster (to animate the body) and a fire mage (to call back a soul to act as a control measure, in the way a brain controls a body). The relevant subsets are listed below:

Necromancy - Earth and Fire

Golemcrafting - Earth and Water

Transmutation - Earth and Air

Scrying - Air and Water

Planar Shifting - Air and Fire

Planar Summoning - Fire and Water

Sigils

A recent development is the creation of sigils. These are runes that have been imbued with a single spell (the type of spell depends on the rune) and the power to cast it once, with different triggers written into the binding circle.

Last edited by Landis963; 2012-04-19 at 12:45 PM.
Reason: Renaming

Originally Posted by Zap Dynamic

I want to create a world that is full of possibility, and one of the best ways to handle it is by creating a bunch of stories that haven't yet been finished.

Originally Posted by Grey_Wolf_c

At this point, however, I'm thinking way too hard about the practical problems of running a battle royale school for Russian assassins, so I think I'll leave it there.

In my posts, smilies generally correspond to my expression at the time. As an example, means "huh?" and "Hmm..". Also, "Landis" is fine.

Re: The Minds of Almantha

Ah, vanilla. They have a tendency to adopt whatever element of spells is practiced by the nearest elemental city, although "multicasters" appear closer to Revien.

Aventi

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From the Stormwrack sourcebook. However, close proximity to the nexus of water magic that is Aquacor have given them gills and winglike webs connecting their arms and torsos. The leaders of Aventi clans all wear brightly colored ponchos, giving them the appearance of gaudily colored manta rays. They have a natural color of orca-whale black with patches of white.

Kiria

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Based of the Raptorans From Races of the Wild. Close proximity to the nexus of air magic that is Saalarann have removed any connection between their arms and their wings, making footbows obsolete. Also, they draw any winds in the area under their wings as a subconscious SLA, allowing them to fly even in the stillest of aerial doldrums, and, with practice, gain enough control to escape the quickest cyclone.

Elves

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Elves perhaps have changed the most from the pointy-eared humans familiar to most of Therinos. Once no different from Tolkien standard elves, Almanthan elves have become plant beings due to their close proximity to the earth magic nexus of Dekonio, closer in appearance to dryads than any other living creature. As a result of this, they no longer need anything other than sunlight and physical nightly contact with soil, although many will indulge their sense of taste for the sensation and for politeness' sake. In a pinch, food can also provide the nutrients if suitable ground is not available.

Nomon

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Nomon (standard Gnomes) are perhaps an anomaly in the lineup of Almanthan races, in that they were created artificially by Dekon, as a pseudo-housewarming present to Obsid after Obsidia was founded. The tallest nomon is no larger than an 8-year old human, although those who underestimate their small size are in for a world of hurt.

Goblinoid races

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There are currently three species of goblinoids wandering Almantha, castoffs of the experiments that created the nomon. The first of these, the orcs, are a species of strength, roving in groups called wanderhordes. The second was the goblins, a species of magic. Their armor is prized for being flexible, durable, and (most important of all) semi-impermeable to magic. The last of the races is the kobolds, a species of speed and agility. Their small size makes them similar to the nomon, who in fact inherited their speed and the goblins' magic. Neither the orcs nor the kobolds, due to a mistake in the ritual that would have given them magic, can use it - nor can magic itself affect an orc or a kobold. In this way, mind-altering spells have an extremely high DC, and scrying spells autofail unless they can latch onto something in the scryed area. Even if the spell takes, any orcs or kobolds in the view of the sensor will fail to appear, as though they were under the effects of Invisibility. However, they will appear as normal to unmagically aided sight. Furthermore, as magic is, in most cases, a manipulation of an element, ice spells will still freeze, fire still burns, etc.

Last edited by Landis963; 2012-03-19 at 07:41 PM.

Originally Posted by Zap Dynamic

I want to create a world that is full of possibility, and one of the best ways to handle it is by creating a bunch of stories that haven't yet been finished.

Originally Posted by Grey_Wolf_c

At this point, however, I'm thinking way too hard about the practical problems of running a battle royale school for Russian assassins, so I think I'll leave it there.

In my posts, smilies generally correspond to my expression at the time. As an example, means "huh?" and "Hmm..". Also, "Landis" is fine.

Re: The Minds of Almantha

As a whole I really like this setting. It's simple to understand at a glance, but there's obviously some bit of mystery built in with regards to the Minds. A few things:

Originally Posted by Landis963

Elves

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Elves perhaps have changed the most from the pointy-eared humans familiar to most of Therinos. Once no different from Tolkien standard elves, Almanthan elves have become plant beings due to their close proximity to the earth magic nexus of Dekonio, closer in appearance to dryads than any other living creature. As a result of this, they no longer need anything other than sunlight and physical nightly contact with soil, although many will indulge their sense of taste for the sensation and for politeness' sake. In a pinch, food can also provide the nutrients if suitable ground is not available.

I rather like these elves. They remind me a lot of elves I did once, where they would changed their skin to reflect the type of ground they walked on. So they'd turn beige-yellow on sand dunes, red while walking on red clay, and dark if they were on fertile soil or a swamp. Very different from the usual crop of pointy eared immortals.

Originally Posted by Landis963

Hybrid spells

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However, there are some spell schools which do not fall under the four elements - Necromancy spells, for example, require both the services of an earth caster (to animate the body) and a fire mage (to call back a soul to act as a control measure, in the way a brain controls a body). The relevant subsets are listed below:

Necromancy - Earth and Fire

Earth and Water

Earth and Air

Scrying - Air and Water

Planar Shifting - Air and Fire

Planar Summoning - Fire and Water

Earth and Water create Abjuration? The water carries the spells, the earth cements them in reality. And Enchantment is represented through Earth and Air. Again, the Air is the suggestion, the Earth is a compulsion to act as you say. Maybe this helps, I'm not sure.

Re: The Minds of Almantha

Originally Posted by Ninjadeadbeard

I rather like these elves. They remind me a lot of elves I did once, where they would changed their skin to reflect the type of ground they walked on. So they'd turn beige-yellow on sand dunes, red while walking on red clay, and dark if they were on fertile soil or a swamp. Very different from the usual crop of pointy eared immortals.

Thanks, I was trying to think "how could I shy away from the Tolkien standard?" and that was the result. Glad you like it.

Originally Posted by Ninjadeadbeard

Earth and Water create Abjuration? The water carries the spells, the earth cements them in reality. And Enchantment is represented through Earth and Air. Again, the Air is the suggestion, the Earth is a compulsion to act as you say. Maybe this helps, I'm not sure.

Enchantment would probably fall under Water Conjuration, (water gets a lot of mind-affecting stuff), while Abjuration could work as Earth and Air, but I'm not sure. The thing is, I'd like to tie it to a) a physical example of the element or b) one secondary power. Air, for example, gets weather magic and teleportation, while water magic gets to manipulate liquids of any type (including brain fluid, hence the mind-affecting stuff) and gets cold and Ice spells as its secondary. Fire gets heat and flame, of course, but also silent-image type illusions (like controllable mirages or holograms). Earth, in this model, gets to shape solid matter (whether that be trees or stone shape doesn't matter), but also gets antimagic. Going back to Abjuration, it might work better as an entirely different school of magic (I'm debating adding it to the OP as one connected to all 4 elements, that is), because Wall of X would naturally be connected to X element, Protection from Arrows would be Air (think about it - an arrow fired into a cyclone wouldn't hit the target in the center), Dispel Magic Earth, Cloak of Chaos barely fits under Water, and Dismissal is a similarly tenuous leap for Fire.

Originally Posted by Zap Dynamic

I want to create a world that is full of possibility, and one of the best ways to handle it is by creating a bunch of stories that haven't yet been finished.

Originally Posted by Grey_Wolf_c

At this point, however, I'm thinking way too hard about the practical problems of running a battle royale school for Russian assassins, so I think I'll leave it there.

In my posts, smilies generally correspond to my expression at the time. As an example, means "huh?" and "Hmm..". Also, "Landis" is fine.

Re: The Minds of Almantha

Earth and water could be golemcrafting. Earth to provide the material and water to provide the impetus to move. Earth and Air could be Transmutation, as together they can change the substance of the item. Or if you thought it could work, move necromancy to air and earth (air representing breath of life) and earth and fire could be transmutation.

I'm trying to figure out which system you are using to delineate schools of magic, because I can't figure it out, so I don't know that my suggestions will be very helpful. Also, have you decided how divine magic is going to work with this setting?

I have returned, and plan on focusing on world-building. Issues are being dealt with.

Originally Posted by MesiDoomstalker

Thread won! I don't think I have the authority to do that but whatever

Re: The Minds of Almantha

Nice work so far! I'll say right away that I'm generally not a fan of high-magic settings, but I like this stuff. It's cool that you foster teamwork in spellcasting. The setting's got a kind of Airbender/Final Fantasy/Zelda feel to it. In particular, I love the take on elves. I've kicked around a very similar idea a few times.

Some thoughts:
There are Humans, and then air, earth, and water races. Any fire races? The Nomon seem like they might be, but it isn't explicit.

As far as format is concerned, I think you would benefit from some revisions. I figure this is a rough draft, but it's worth a mention anyway. My own preference is to lay out the geography, either the nations or the races (whichever is more unified), religion and magic, then anything else that's germane.

Re: The Minds of Almantha

Forum, don't fail me now.

Originally Posted by Omeganaut

Earth and water could be golemcrafting. Earth to provide the material and water to provide the impetus to move. Earth and Air could be Transmutation, as together they can change the substance of the item. Or if you thought it could work, move necromancy to air and earth (air representing breath of life) and earth and fire could be transmutation.

Earth and Water seems like an excellent way to make Golems, as does Earth and Air for Transmutation. I'll add that later. I actually considered the "breath of life" as an argument for air in Necromancy, but it's got weather magic (which, BTW, includes Chain Lightning) and teleportation, which made me think it's getting overpowered. Fire as part of Necromancy was inspired by a friend, who noted that in a book he'd read, the souls of the dead were always described as fire-related things. (I don't remember the name of the book he cited)

Originally Posted by Omeganaut

I'm trying to figure out which system you are using to delineate schools of magic, because I can't figure it out, so I don't know that my suggestions will be very helpful. Also, have you decided how divine magic is going to work with this setting?

It's my own invention, which takes cues from Airbender, among others. Basic rule of thumb is: if a spell can be done with a circumstantial example of the element, it is aligned with that element. However, each also gets a secondary power (water mages can cast mind-affecting spells that control the blood or the brain fluid of a target, air mages can swap themselves with the air at a target position, with the effect of teleportation, fire can cause shifts in atmospheric heat to cause illusions, earth can drain magical energy from a target, with the effect of antimagic). Also, divine magic as such does not exist as a category, since the Minds are not divine entities that can grant spells to a practitioner.

Originally Posted by Zap Dynamic

Nice work so far! I'll say right away that I'm generally not a fan of high-magic settings, but I like this stuff. It's cool that you foster teamwork in spellcasting. The setting's got a kind of Airbender/Final Fantasy/Zelda feel to it. In particular, I love the take on elves. I've kicked around a very similar idea a few times.

Some thoughts:
There are Humans, and then air, earth, and water races. Any fire races? The Nomon seem like they might be, but it isn't explicit.

The nomon are basically the modern fire race, but while the world was young, before the Minds ascended to their current positions, Dragons controlled the entire western coast. It is rumored that the last of the dragons bequeathed the volcanic caverns that now house Obsidia to its founder.

Originally Posted by Zap Dynamic

As far as format is concerned, I think you would benefit from some revisions. I figure this is a rough draft, but it's worth a mention anyway. My own preference is to lay out the geography, either the nations or the races (whichever is more unified), religion and magic, then anything else that's germane.

That's all I can think of for now.

I'm trying to thrash geography out too, but I keep running into problems. I'd like to have them laid out in a LoZ-Termina-esque pattern, with one city-state to the north, another to the west, and so on, with Revien in the middle a la Clock Town. However, Aquacor requires a lagoon (or any body of water large enough to hold a city), Dekonio a forest, Saalarann needs a plain sufficiently large enough that the teleport pad at its center is remarkable enough to draw attention, and I'd like to have Obsidia on a volcanic island. However, the most convenient place to put a volcanic island is at the mouth of Aquacor's lagoon, and placing two similar islands at opposite ends of the same continent seems problematic. I'm currently thinking that we have a peninsula to the west, which is blocked from the mainland by a dormant volcano, which of course houses Obsidia, while Aquacor has only just begun to sprawl outside of the lagoon it was built in. I agree that the formatting needs fixing, I was just trying to get down everything from the previous thread (that died, BTW) and didn't think much to format. I'll get around to fixing it eventually.

Originally Posted by motoko's ghost

Earth and Air for flight/levitation spells? Earth to weaken the bond to the ground and air to shift them about?

Earth would, if anything, strengthen the bond to the ground, making levitation impractical to (literally) tie to earth. Levitation is an air-only ability, as evidenced by the kirian ability to literally generate wind beneath their wings.

EDIT: DING!

Last edited by Landis963; 2012-03-17 at 11:00 PM.

Originally Posted by Zap Dynamic

I want to create a world that is full of possibility, and one of the best ways to handle it is by creating a bunch of stories that haven't yet been finished.

Originally Posted by Grey_Wolf_c

At this point, however, I'm thinking way too hard about the practical problems of running a battle royale school for Russian assassins, so I think I'll leave it there.

In my posts, smilies generally correspond to my expression at the time. As an example, means "huh?" and "Hmm..". Also, "Landis" is fine.

Re: The Minds of Almantha

Originally Posted by Landis963

I'm trying to thrash geography out too, but I keep running into problems. I'd like to have them laid out in a LoZ-Termina-esque pattern, with one city-state to the north, another to the west, and so on, with Revien in the middle a la Clock Town. However, Aquacor requires a lagoon (or any body of water large enough to hold a city), Dekonio a forest, Saalarann needs a plain sufficiently large enough that the teleport pad at its center is remarkable enough to draw attention, and I'd like to have Obsidia on a volcanic island. However, the most convenient place to put a volcanic island is at the mouth of Aquacor's lagoon, and placing two similar islands at opposite ends of the same continent seems problematic. I'm currently thinking that we have a peninsula to the west, which is blocked from the mainland by a dormant volcano, which of course houses Obsidia, while Aquacor has only just begun to sprawl outside of the lagoon it was built in. I agree that the formatting needs fixing, I was just trying to get down everything from the previous thread (that died, BTW) and didn't think much to format. I'll get around to fixing it eventually.

Hmmm. This has got me thinking. What if we keep your idea of the cities being set in a compass-style setting, but then just justify whatever geography exists because of the Minds. The Minds are incredibly, godly powerful things. Who's to say that they don't shape the world around them to suit their element? Volcanoes don't appear because they're near a tectonic plate boundary. They appear because that's where the Fire Mind exists. Despite being up an incline, there's a vast lagoon around Aquacor. So, basically, ignore proper geography. It's a high-magic world where magic = God-Cities.

Re: The Minds of Almantha

Originally Posted by Ninjadeadbeard

Hmmm. This has got me thinking. What if we keep your idea of the cities being set in a compass-style setting, but then just justify whatever geography exists because of the Minds. The Minds are incredibly, godly powerful things. Who's to say that they don't shape the world around them to suit their element? Volcanoes don't appear because they're near a tectonic plate boundary. They appear because that's where the Fire Mind exists. Despite being up an incline, there's a vast lagoon around Aquacor. So, basically, ignore proper geography. It's a high-magic world where magic = God-Cities.

I like the idea, especially with the implication that the Minds themselves started warping the area, but as I said earlier, the last of the dragons bequeathed the caverns to the founder of Obsidia. Obsid could very easily have burned some extra caverns after he was installed, and has in fact done so multiple times over the course of Almantha's history. Also, Saala wouldn't much care about the plain which contains her teleport pad once she was installed in Saalarann, and the elven population which founded Dekonio would have gravitated to a small forest before settling down in the first place.

TL;DR: The Minds would have dabbled in terraforming, but there needs to be something there for them to start with. EDIT: With the exception of Aquacor. even before ascension, Aqua was an energetic young mage who would take to the challenge of creating a lake from nothing with gusto.

Last edited by Landis963; 2012-03-18 at 11:50 AM.

Originally Posted by Zap Dynamic

I want to create a world that is full of possibility, and one of the best ways to handle it is by creating a bunch of stories that haven't yet been finished.

Originally Posted by Grey_Wolf_c

At this point, however, I'm thinking way too hard about the practical problems of running a battle royale school for Russian assassins, so I think I'll leave it there.

In my posts, smilies generally correspond to my expression at the time. As an example, means "huh?" and "Hmm..". Also, "Landis" is fine.

Re: The Minds of Almantha

New OP! Now with new Geography section (Thanks Ninja for the help) and additions to Magic and Races.

Up next: Organizations and Factions.

Long story short, I'd like to have at least 3 or 4 different major organizations for each city. I've got a few to start it off, which is where you come in.

Aquacor:

University of Aquacor

Aquacor Navy

Consortium of Schools - the aventi nations' ruling body: a council of every patriarch or patriarch's chosen representative.

Dekonio: This one can skimp on factions, due to Dekon's preference to limit the amount of conflicting factions within his domain.

Dekonio Practicum - A "technical school" of magic, and main lab for sigils.

Sharenia Library - a collection of treatises on every topic imaginable, from spell schools to celestial movements to basic aerodynamics.

Obsidia:

Ominak Laboratories - Producer of constructs and machines of every shape, size, and specification, rumored to take orders from Obsid himself.

Underground railroad for kobolds wishing to impersonate/replace a nomon, needs a name.

Kasaito - a sect of terrorists that destroy and deface monuments to Obsid, etching the name of "Fisura" over Obsid's.

Saalarann:

Falconrunners - Pseudo-Traceurs with wingsuits, who pride themselves on taking the quickest path to their destinations, be it by cable, over street, or through the air. Mainly a human discipline, although the younger generation of kiria are starting to see its merits.

an order of monks who have discovered how to scry solely using winds. Needs a more arabian-esque name.

Revien

Revien Freelancer Guard - a mercenary corps of all shapes, sizes, and magical aptitudes. The superiors have a tendency to group their recruits into six-man teams (i.e. D&D teams - the game I eventually intend to run will start with the players signing up).

Moon Market - A black market bazaar that springs up every full moon, complete with trail of reflected moonlight. More exotic items are sold here, including the best suits of magic-conducive armor, sold by the Goblins who enchanted them.

Last edited by Landis963; 2012-04-07 at 03:41 PM.

Originally Posted by Zap Dynamic

I want to create a world that is full of possibility, and one of the best ways to handle it is by creating a bunch of stories that haven't yet been finished.

Originally Posted by Grey_Wolf_c

At this point, however, I'm thinking way too hard about the practical problems of running a battle royale school for Russian assassins, so I think I'll leave it there.

In my posts, smilies generally correspond to my expression at the time. As an example, means "huh?" and "Hmm..". Also, "Landis" is fine.

Re: The Minds of Almantha

New OP! Now with new Geography section (Thanks Ninja for the help) and additions to Magic and Races.

Up next: Organizations and Factions.

Long story short, I'd like to have at least 3 or 4 different major organizations for each city. I've got a few to start it off, which is where you come in.

I'll be able to help out with this tomorrow, after finals. For now, I got another photoshop craving. So I did a drawing of the Air Mind that runs Saalarann (forgive me forgetting its real name, gotta post before the database backup). Inspired by those floating heads from the Atlantis movie. Can't seem to fix the size.

Re: The Minds of Almantha

Something with golemcrafters who believe that the constructs are the pinnacle of form and basically attempting fantasy transhumanism with golem bodies&etc, however due to the questionable nature of their experiments they usually keep a low profile.

EDIT: whoops that may not be what you are looking for...um...maybe a large library of both magical and mundane knowledge?

Re: The Minds of Almantha

Originally Posted by Ninjadeadbeard

Spoiler

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I like it, but it would be a better fit for Aqua, rather than Saala. Saala would prefer a cyclone-esque figurehead.

Originally Posted by motoko's ghost

Something with golemcrafters who believe that the constructs are the pinnacle of form and basically attempting fantasy transhumanism with golem bodies&etc, however due to the questionable nature of their experiments they usually keep a low profile.

EDIT: whoops that may not be what you are looking for...um...maybe a large library of both magical and mundane knowledge?

The golemcrafter cabal might work, but it wouldn't work anywhere but Obsidia. Also, there's a difference between the Water&Earth golems, and the constructs created at Ominak, which are closer to robots than anything else.

A large library would work nicely for Dekonio: It would serve Dekon nicely to have all manner of knowledge at his fingertips. What would you like to call it?

Originally Posted by Zap Dynamic

I want to create a world that is full of possibility, and one of the best ways to handle it is by creating a bunch of stories that haven't yet been finished.

Originally Posted by Grey_Wolf_c

At this point, however, I'm thinking way too hard about the practical problems of running a battle royale school for Russian assassins, so I think I'll leave it there.

In my posts, smilies generally correspond to my expression at the time. As an example, means "huh?" and "Hmm..". Also, "Landis" is fine.

Re: The Minds of Almantha

All hail to the Hypno-Stone!

*clap*

"The moment you achieve a meaningful level of skill and understanding of something, whole new vistas of possibility open up in front of you and now instead of being good at what you have been doing you are bad at what you will be doing." - Patrick Stuart

Re: The Minds of Almantha

Originally Posted by Landis963

The golemcrafter cabal might work, but it wouldn't work anywhere but Obsidia. Also, there's a difference between the Water&Earth golems, and the constructs created at Ominak, which are closer to robots than anything else.

A large library would work nicely for Dekonio: It would serve Dekon nicely to have all manner of knowledge at his fingertips. What would you like to call it?

Sharenia might work (as a corruption of Sharu Aigne there). Ustun Nezere sounds more like Draconic to my ear (although I'm wondering whether "Ustun" or "Nezere" is "mind", as either would work wonderfully for the plaza in front of the central tower of Obsidia), and I dare you to find a group of american players who wouldn't laugh when they heard the word "Focail".

Originally Posted by Zap Dynamic

I want to create a world that is full of possibility, and one of the best ways to handle it is by creating a bunch of stories that haven't yet been finished.

Originally Posted by Grey_Wolf_c

At this point, however, I'm thinking way too hard about the practical problems of running a battle royale school for Russian assassins, so I think I'll leave it there.

In my posts, smilies generally correspond to my expression at the time. As an example, means "huh?" and "Hmm..". Also, "Landis" is fine.

Re: The Minds of Almantha

Originally Posted by Landis963

Long story short, I'd like to have at least 3 or 4 different major organizations for each city. I've got a few to start it off, which is where you come in.

Since Saalarann has these Flying Squirrel people leaping around, you could have a faction that's more traditional. The Tuuli-lukoi are a set of monks who try to become air and merge with the Mind, sort of like enlightenment or ascension. They're the kind of group who stand in one place and let the wind carry messages to them, rather than squirrel about like those Falconrunners.

Re: The Minds of Almantha

Originally Posted by Ninjadeadbeard

Since Saalarann has these Flying Squirrel people leaping around, you could have a faction that's more traditional. The Tuuli-lukoi are a set of monks who try to become air and merge with the Mind, sort of like enlightenment or ascension. They're the kind of group who stand in one place and let the wind carry messages to them, rather than squirrel about like those Falconrunners.

Hm, Interesting. I bet Saala, for one, would be very interested to learn that this group has somehow divorced scrying from the water element. However, I don't think "becoming air" is possible - although I'm perfectly fine with them being in the dark about that snag in their plans. However, "Tuuli-Lukoi" doesn't fit with "Saalarann", which to my mind has a more Arabian flavor.

EDIT: This order and the library that motoko came up with earlier have been added.

Last edited by Landis963; 2012-03-21 at 05:36 PM.

Originally Posted by Zap Dynamic

I want to create a world that is full of possibility, and one of the best ways to handle it is by creating a bunch of stories that haven't yet been finished.

Originally Posted by Grey_Wolf_c

At this point, however, I'm thinking way too hard about the practical problems of running a battle royale school for Russian assassins, so I think I'll leave it there.

In my posts, smilies generally correspond to my expression at the time. As an example, means "huh?" and "Hmm..". Also, "Landis" is fine.

Re: The Minds of Almantha

Originally Posted by Landis963

Hm, Interesting. I bet Saala, for one, would be very interested to learn that this group has somehow divorced scrying from the water element. However, I don't think "becoming air" is possible - although I'm perfectly fine with them being in the dark about that snag in their plans. However, "Tuuli-Lukoi" doesn't fit with "Saalarann", which to my mind has a more Arabian flavor.

Total brainfart. I completely forgot about the water=scry stuff. Instead, how about a group that created and maintains a massive communications network. There's a massive series of Towers strung out across the world, each just outside of visual range of each other, and message-carriers teleport from one tower to the next and hand off the message to the waiting members of the order there, who then have someone with fresh spell slots continue on to the next. It's like a magical pony express. In that it's magic and acts like the Pony Express, not that it's a message system using magic ponies.

As for the name. Google Translate doesn't translate Arabic into a Latin Alphabet . So I went with Finnish and simply combined the words for "Wind" and "Reader". If you know what that is in Arabic you could still use the same name.

Re: The Minds of Almantha

Sorry about the delay, I completely forgot that the server ate my post.

Originally Posted by Ninjadeadbeard

Total brainfart. I completely forgot about the water=scry stuff. Instead, how about a group that created and maintains a massive communications network. There's a massive series of Towers strung out across the world, each just outside of visual range of each other, and message-carriers teleport from one tower to the next and hand off the message to the waiting members of the order there, who then have someone with fresh spell slots continue on to the next. It's like a magical pony express. In that it's magic and acts like the Pony Express, not that it's a message system using magic ponies.

I like the idea. However, the post office shouldn't extend far beyond Saalarann's domain. It would be impractical for them to have an office in Aquacor (Aqua changes the skyline like a socialite changes clothes), and Dekon and Obsid have their own ways to get information from place to place.

Originally Posted by Ninjadeadbeard

As for the name. Google Translate doesn't translate Arabic into a Latin Alphabet . So I went with Finnish and simply combined the words for "Wind" and "Reader". If you know what that is in Arabic you could still use the same name.

Wind is loosely translated as "habb", reader as "alqar'e". On another note, I was thinking of what the name for the Teleport express could be, and I thought, "why not "wind-riders"?" Thus, the word for "rider" in arabic is "alerakeb."

Last edited by Landis963; 2012-03-24 at 08:22 AM.

Originally Posted by Zap Dynamic

I want to create a world that is full of possibility, and one of the best ways to handle it is by creating a bunch of stories that haven't yet been finished.

Originally Posted by Grey_Wolf_c

At this point, however, I'm thinking way too hard about the practical problems of running a battle royale school for Russian assassins, so I think I'll leave it there.

In my posts, smilies generally correspond to my expression at the time. As an example, means "huh?" and "Hmm..". Also, "Landis" is fine.

Re: The Minds of Almantha

Less busy, more...looking for direction. I'm just not sure what to add to the conversation.

Um...is there some sort of official membership to Mindworship? Like an organized body or a temple in Revien?

First, I've been looking for an alternate name for that since before Zap mentioned the Rectorum in his American Mythology project.

Second, there is in fact a grand cathedral in Revien, known to all as the Noreun. Smaller towns in all four kingdoms have similar churches, but the only temples in the elemental cities are those dedicated to the Mind of the city. It is rumored that there is a secret passage between the Noreun and the major temple of each elemental city, but the existence of such a connection has never been proven. The Noreun itself has a central figure not unlike the pope, (who needs a name for his title as well), with priests dispatched to smaller churches as needed. The pope-analogue also acts as Revien's president, with a Senate of delegates from each district of Revien acting as advisers and checking his secular power.

Third, did no one notice the secret message in that post? Or, if you found it, consider it worth a mention?

Originally Posted by Zap Dynamic

I want to create a world that is full of possibility, and one of the best ways to handle it is by creating a bunch of stories that haven't yet been finished.

Originally Posted by Grey_Wolf_c

At this point, however, I'm thinking way too hard about the practical problems of running a battle royale school for Russian assassins, so I think I'll leave it there.

In my posts, smilies generally correspond to my expression at the time. As an example, means "huh?" and "Hmm..". Also, "Landis" is fine.